Mean Green Top No. 44 TCU, 4-3
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FT. WORTH, Texas – Mean Green tennis defeated the No. 44 TCU Horned Frogs for the first time in school history Thursday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center, 4-3.
North Texas (4-3) found themselves in an early hole for the second straight match as TCU (3-2) grabbed two of the three doubles matches and the first point.
“That was an amazing match and what a great finish for us,” said head coach Sujay Lama. “Both the ladies in the deciding match poured their hearts out. Fortunately for us, Paula came through at the end. Without doubt, this is the biggest win ever for our program.”
Juniors Valentina Starkova and Barbora Vykydalova were the only members of the Mean Green to win their doubles match when they downed the 57th ranked duo of Federica Denti and Kelsey Sundaram.
Singles saw North Texas square the match at one with a quick victory from Irina Paraschiv on court four. The senior defeated Millie Nichols of the Horned Frogs 3-2, when Nichols had to retire due to injury.
TCU would jump back on top of North Texas though, when reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week Nadia Lee fell in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Freshman Kseniya Bardabush would even the match from there as she ran through TCU’s 117th ranked Olivia Smith 6-2, 6-4.
The Horned Frogs would jump back out once again, however, when No. 92 Stefanie tan took down Starkova in tough fought match, 6-4, 6-4.
Junior Ilona Serchenko would win the next match for the Mean Green and square the score at 3-3 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sundaram.
Senior Paula Dinuta drove the nail in the coffin when she overcame a third set match point deficit to win the match 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (3).
The No. 44 Horned Frogs are the highest ranked team North Texas has defeated in program history.
“We’ve been talking about believing and that is what it came down to today,” Lama added. “We knew the record we had versus TCU but the ladies refused to give in.”
The Mean Green will be back in action on Sunday when the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns make a trip to Waranch Tennis Complex. First serve is set for 2 p.m. and as always, admission to North Texas tennis home matches is free of charge.
